As promised in my previous iPad video, here is another video getting into a bit more detail
on the specs for the recently announced iPad Pro.
We might geek out a little bit on this one, but I hope it goes some way in helping you
choose the right iPad Pro for you.
Before we start, take a look at this comment here in my previous iPad video from Anthony.
This is a perfect example of someone who will actually benefit from the iPad Pro top tier
specs.
Anthony says he shoots a Canon R5 and he shoots 8K, 4KHQ and 4K 120 FPS
That is some serious overheating... I mean, serious large files, and need for processing
power.
The new season is rapidly approaching for his work in nature videos, and he will benefit
from the top of the range iPad immediately.
With those accurate colours and sheer processing power that is coming with the M1. Anthony
is definitely what I would class as a Pro user.
And By now you watched hours and hours of YouTube videos on the iPad Pro, with people
talking about the M1, Retina XDR, Thunderbolt and... like me you are sold on the idea.
But now all YOU want to know is which spec to go for.
If you are about to hit that buy button today, consider the points in this video beforehand.
I made it easy for you and added some timestamps to help you navigate the content.
Let's get a couple of things out of the way very quickly. The first one is the screen
size.
11 or 12.9 inch - and they are both getting the same processor .
So if you have an 11 inch iPad right and you're thinking about upgrading simply because your
current tablet is running slow ----then the new 11 inch will be ok for you.
All you have to is to choose between the different storage options. So if that's you, head over
to the storage chapter.
But if you’re considering the 12.9 inch. Then watch on because it gets a bit more complicated.
In terms of camera (front and back), battery, video recording capabilities, speakers and
sensors - they are the same on both new iPad Pros.
So let's cover what is NOT THE SAME.
DISPLAY Starting with the display, the 12.9 inch has
Liquid Retina XDR (which is new on the iPad Pro and something that Apple borrowed from
their Pro Display XDR product)
In simple terms, this technology is to help with viewing angles, brightness, contrast
ratio.
Right? The ability to have really bright parts of an image right next to a very dark part
of an image.
And this is something that every display you look at today struggles to reproduce.
So the Retina XDR option is going to be useful. If you really care about colour accuracy in
your work.
And indeed you plan to be using your iPad for that, like my viewer Anthony at the beginning.
And we know we're not about to get full fat Photoshop experience on the iPad right now.
You can use things like Lightroom which is great, but we're now down to the law of diminishing
returns.
Ultimately, there's a limit in what our eyes can see. And the closest the technology gets
to that, the less noticeable it will be. Even though in some of these specs we are talking
about DOUBLING, TRIPLING or in Apple language. Over 1500 times faster.
Anthony knows exactly why he needs those new features for his work.
But if you are not sure right now how you would benefit from these features there's
an option to wait a little longer, like a few weeks.
The entire tech community (myself included) are almost 100% sure that Apple are planning
to announce something big for the iPad in June at WWDC.
Which is their developer conference where they usually announce major new software updates.
So we are talking 4-5 weeks now.
If you are not sure about how you would use those extra bells and whistles, and you can
wait....I'd wait those few weeks.
Because otherwise, you could end up spending a lot more than what you need. And that's
not good.
Yes you will be able to watch movies and Netflix series in a greater resolution, if you buu
the iPad Pro right now. But let's face it.
It's pretty damned good anyway, you're not really going to analyse every single pixel
to see if Pablo's shirt is the right tone of yellow.... you don't really NEED Retina
XDR for that.
You might think that the there's a big difference on the display between the 11 and 12.9 inch
when you look at the resolution and you may assume that the higher resolution is better.
which is fair enough.
And technically it is, you ARE getting a higher resolution of 2732 by 2048 on the 12.9 inch
version which is slightly higher than the 11 inch.
But what's giving you a better image quality is not the amount of pixels on the display.
It's the tech BEHIND those pixels.
That 2D backlighting system with 2500 local dimming zones. THAT's what is gonna give you
a better contrast ratio and brightness.
The resolution itself is just tied to the size of the screen.
But we could be getting into a the law of diminishing returns here again. If you already
have an iPad Pro 4th gen. That iPad has the same resolution.
OK, you don't get the full, you know 1000 nits max full brightness, but a lot of the
display features like 120Hz (Promotion), True Tone and wide colour gamut are already there
on the 4th gen.
So an upgrade for you would only see--- a very small return.
In my case, coming from the 1st gen iPad Pro, I will see a big leap in refresh rate, contrast
ratio and obviously the brightness, therefore a bigger return.
It's just something to keep in mind guys, Apple is the GOAT when it comes to Marketing
and they will make us all believe that these new features are the best thing since sliced
bread.
But just be mindful of that law of diminishing returns. You can get caught in that Marketing
rat race and...
OK let's talk about the M1 chip.
We can't talk about the M1 chip without talking about the memory. Apple being Apple made it
very awkward for people to choose the right spec here.
By now you will have heard that based on current iPadOs apps... there is ABSOLUTELY no point
in buying the 16GB RAM version.
Because unless you were really pushing it, even the previous iPad Pro already had more
than enough capacity to run the current apps.
So we HAVE to believe that Apple is announcing some sort of Pro apps support on these iPad
Pro because otherwise, it's like buying a Ferrari just to keep it in the garage.
You're never really going to experience what that machine is capable of.
Still hurts
We HAVE to trust that Apple have plans to enable Final Cut, the Adobe Suite, Logic and
Xcode. All those things for example to run on the iPad Pro in some way shape or form.
Buying the 16GB right now is effectively GAMBLING on the fact that Apple will give us something
in the near future, that will utilise all of that processing power and memory.
So a bit like the display, if you are not sure. Wait a few weeks. wait for that announcement.
THERE ARE A HANDFUL of apps right now that would benefit from having more RAM. Take Procreate
for example. The more RAM you have, the more layers you will be able to use in the app,
for any given size of canvas.
It's a really popular app on the iPad. And please don't take my word for it, I checked
this with a real Pro, Brad from Brad's art school.
On an older iPad with 4GB RAM, using a canvas size of 3000 x 3000 pixels you can create
55 layers.
On a smaller canvas size of 2000 x 2000 pixels, 130 layers.
So we can assume that, on an 8GB RAM iPad you will be able to work with 110 layers on
3000 x 3000 pixels canvas size.
That's a lot of layers!! And I checked with Brad, from Brad's art school.
And his channel by the way , is a must if you want to learn illustration - he's on like
half a million subscribers, brilliant content!
And he agreed with me, that for most people 16GB won't matter! When it comes to procreate
anything above 25 layers is more than fine.
When it starts to matter, is for people who are doing work that will be printed for example.
Those guys often need a bigger canvas size and as the canvas gets bigger you lose the
amount of layers .
So people working with comic book pages or editorial illustration--- they will want a
lot of layers and large canvases.
But that's a very small percentage of people. And 8GB will feel like a good upgrade. 16GB
will basically mean that they never have to think about canvas size again!!
Brad - thanks so much for that info, you are the best.
Rigth. So...Both 11 and 12.9 inch will have the exact
same desktop class processor, in that super capable M1 chip with 8-core CPU and 8-core
GPU.
It's just like.. nuts!
As we just discussed, the 16GB RAM will be for people who are serious about running pro
apps in the future and using their iPads for that rather than a laptop. And really taking
advantage of that RAM.
If you don't see yourself needing that sort of power, then consider the lower capacity
options.
Which leads us into the storage options.
If you are NOT in that camp that really will take the iPad to the max pushing the iPads
like a real pro, hypothetically speaking, Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Final Cut and so
on.... then you have 3 options in my opinion...
128GB, 256GB and 512GB. But who are these options for?
I would say 128GB is good enough for most people who won't really care about those pro
apps and don't really consider themselves as heavy tablet users.
I can see this option being very popular in the corporate world for example and schools.
But also, if all you want to do is watch movies, do video calls, take notes and do the occasional
gaming.
With the ability to offload apps like we do already - have that on the current iPads - and
re-download them when you need them. Whilst still retaining your preferences, it becomes
really hard to justify half a terabyte or even 256GB for that matter.
Yes, apps will only get bigger and with the camera quality being better you might be tempted
to use the iPad Pro to take more photos and videos.
But let's face it...Most people would use their smartphones instead. And if you are
not using those pro apps, you are not really generating large files that actually need
to be stored locally.
But if you have lots of high-end games (is that even a thing on iPads?)
I don't know...but lots of games or you have a massive music Library for example with lots
of really high quality content, then 256GB or half a terabyte (feels wrong even saying
it)
That but might be for you, if you need those large files stored locally.
But.....don't press buy just yet dismissing the 128GB!
Because....With Thunderbolt 3 you can use one these external SSDs like the Sandisk Extreme
or Samsung T5 or T7 which are much cheaper than the apple storage. And will give you
an extra 1 or 2 TB for really decent transfer speeds.
So rather than buying the expensive storage option from Apple, invest that money you saved
in external storage and docking options will be a much smarter move.
I will put a few links in the description for you on the storage and docking options
I will be using and the docking options that I will be using as well.
So if you are worried about 128GB not being enough, consider those options as well.
CONCLUSION In conclusion, for most people, the 8GB RAM
configuration is more than enough.
Considering the CPU is the same on both options... For most iPad apps, like any apps for that
matter, the limiting factor is going to be RAM.
Storage capacity will not make a noticeable difference for most workflows, so if you are
planning on using high intensive graphic apps, then go for the larger memory option of 16GB.
If you are not sure how you're going to make use of that extra power, wait 4-5 weeks maybe.
But if you are like Anthony or Brad --- hit buy on the 16GB RAM. And I will see you and
your smiling faces on the next one!